Bookie Comparison added to Golf Predictor

 Prediction Rankings (Odds) page for the 2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic with new colour coded Odds column & new Bookie Rank column

General panel of Prediction Page for Rory McIlroy for the same tournament showing new row with bookie information

GP video tutorial on this functionality

 

I am pleased to announce the addition of an experimental Bookie Comparison feature to Golf Predictor. This new feature is available on the Rankings (Odds) page on the Predictions menu and it is a visual comparison of the GP rankings with the bookie rankings for a tournament. As can be seen in the first screenshot above for the 2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic, there is a new Bookie Rank ("B Rk") column and the Odds column is now colour coded. Undervalued golfers are shown in green, with deeper shades representing better value. Similarly, overvalued golfers are shown in red,with deeper shades representing worse value. Golfers ranked about right by the bookies (according to Golf Predictor!) are shown in yellow/gold. Hovering over the odds column will show the best price of the bookies surveyed and the bookie(s) offering that price.

For tournaments with this new bookie information, a new row has been added with the same bookie information to the General panel on the 'Prediction Data' page for each golfer. This is shown in the second screenshot above for Rory McIlroy, also for the 2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. However, on this page, the bookie rank and best price are shown directly and the bookie(s) offering this price is shown in a pop-up box.

 Some notes on this new metric:

1. The bookie rank is the average ranking of the golfer from all the bookies offering odds at query time. The number and names of these bookies will vary from day to day.
2. This functionality works by comparing this average bookie rank with the GP rank. Golfers with a higher GP rank than bookie rank are considered undervalued and vice versa.
3. The bookies used are all European, due mainly to the legal issues with on-line gambling in the US and the resulting difficulty in sourcing odds from there. I assume the odds/rankings of Las Vegas bookies would be pretty similar in any case.
4. This functionality may or not be available for some or all future tournaments. If enough people find it useful, I'll do it for as many tournaments as possible. Otherwise, I may just do it for the bigger events.
5. Further to the above point, this new functionality is initially available for The Players Championship this week, but not for the smaller event in Mauritius.
6. If the functionality isn't available the Predictions (Odds) page will look the same as before, except for the Bookie Rank column, which will read "n/a".
7. When available, the bookie comparison will appear on the Monday or Tuesday of the tournament week, depending on the availability of the bookie information.
8. When this bookie comparison is available, a colour code table is displayed on the page, as shown in the first screenshot above.
9. The odds are most valid on the day they appear. Bookie odds change over time for various reasons, but there is no automatic odds updating at the moment.
10. Further to the previous point, the odds are only valid before a tournament starts. Therefore, the odds and c comparison will disappear on the day the tournament starts. Depending on where the tournament is held in the world relative to the time-zone of the server Golf Predictor is hosted on, this may mean they are still available for Asian tournaments for a while after they start.
11. As shown above, some of the bookie names are links. These represent bookies which Golf Predictor is an affiliate of, so if you plan on signing up to the bookie in question, please sign up via the link!
12. You may have to refresh an updated page to see the changes.

I trust you will find this new premium feature useful. Any feedback (via comments on this article or email) would be most welcome. Like other premium features, non-subscribers can only see this bookie comparison information for golfers ranked 11-25 in the prediction rankings. Therefore, sign up today and reap the full benefits of Golf Predictor, the premium professional golf statistics site.